The present invention relates to a refrigeration appliance, in particular a domestic freezer or fridge-freezer combination appliance, having an ice dispenser and an assembly for a refrigeration appliance of this kind.
An ice dispenser known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,627 A comprises a storage compartment for chunks of ice, a stirrer, which can be rotated about an axis extending through the storage container, a crushing compartment which lengthens the storage compartment in the direction of the axis, and a slide, rotatably coupled to the stirrer in the crushing compartment, in the form of a plurality of parallel blades secured to the axis, which during the course of its rotation conveys ice that has penetrated into the crushing compartment to a dispensing opening and optionally crushes it in the process. The stirrer is constructed over a portion of its length as a spiral and over another portion, adjacent to the dispensing compartment, as a conveyor worm, so a rotation of the stirrer conveys chunks of ice into the crushing compartment. If the stirrer were to rotate without it being possible to dispense ice from the crushing compartment, the ice would back up in the crushing compartment and block rotation. Rotation of the stirrer without simultaneous dispensing of ice is therefore not possible. If ice is not removed for a relatively long period of time there is the risk that the chunks of ice will freeze to one another in the storage container and block rotation, so the ice dispenser has to be removed from the refrigeration appliance and be de-iced in order to render it usable again.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,219 proposes an ice dispenser having an assembly that can be mounted in a refrigeration appliance, comprising a storage compartment for chunks of ice, a stirrer which can be rotated about an axis extending through the storage compartment in order to move chunks of ice contained in the storage compartment, and a dispensing compartment from which crushed or uncrushed chunks of ice are dispensed from the assembly as the user chooses. The stirrer has the form of a rod that is bent in the manner of a zigzag in one plane. A conveying and metering drum arranged between the storage compartment and the crushing compartment is coupled via a planet gear to the rotation of the stirrer and whenever the latter rotates conveys ice into the crushing compartment. The stirrer is therefore only allowed to rotate if ice is to be dispensed. The interval between successive actuations of the stirrer can therefore be very long and there is likewise the risk of chunks of ice freezing together in the storage compartment and blocking the stirrer.
To counteract the risk of the stirrer being blocked a very powerful drive motor can be provided for the stirrer and the entire assembly can be designed with high mechanical loading capacity to allow the chunks of ice to be broken off even after a period of relatively long non-use. While the risk of blocking of the ice dispenser may be reduced and/or the time of non-use following which a blockage occurs may be increased in this way, this approach is still associated with significant costs and there is the risk that chunks of ice will be undesirably crushed in the storage compartment. However, the greater the portion of small fragments of ice in the storage compartment is, the greater is its tendency to freeze solid and the greater the force required to break off the ice.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,381 proposes solving the problem of freezing solid by providing a stirrer and a conveyor worm in the storage compartment of an ice dispenser which are driven separately from each other and by a separate motor in each case. The stirrer can therefore be actuated to loosen chunks of ice from each other without ice simultaneously being dispensed through the conveyor worm. One problem with this construction is the large space requirement of the stirrer and the conveyor worm that is separate therefrom and their drive motors, which makes this solution of interest substantially only for commercial devices that are used exclusively for making ice.